Compulsive comfort eating was leading to high blood pressure,respiratory problems and mental health issues for the 28-year-old and he was desperate to make a change.

Darryn’s mother Genevieve was a Unislim leader in their local town of Cahir and she convinced him to attend one of her classes.

Darryn Loughnane, Image: Facebook

“She asked me to the class to help her carry things, be there to bring stuff in and that. But she had a different idea in mind,” he told The Irish Examiner.

Darryn only realised how much his weight had soared when he stood on the scales. Shocked, he made a commitment to kickstart a new healthy regime.

“I kind of had this misconception in my head that going on a diet I kind of had to starve. That wasn’t the case,” Darryn said.

“The first week after I got weighed in I was down 5kg. It was amazing. What got me was that I was addicted to Coke. I’d drink between four and six litres every day. So I started substituting diluted orange for Coke. It made a huge difference,” he said.

“Mentally you have to be ready to lose the weight and I think I was at that point. There have been weeks I’ve been up, there have been weeks I’ve been down, and weeks I was the same but I still stuck at it. I didn’t give up.”

To document his journey, Darryn created a dedicated Facebook page entitled “Escape From Obesity”.

Darryn Loughnane, Image: Facebook

“A lot of people message me. I get around 20 messages a day from people saying they love the page and it’s so inspiring. But what they don’t realise is when they’re telling me I’m inspiring them, they’re actually inspiring me to keep going,” he said.

The hairdresser was over the moon last week when he hit realised he had lost 22kg since his weight loss journey began.And he continues to inspire those around him to make better choices.

“My partner, he’s now looking at his own food and thinking about it. He’s only 63.5kg but he’s watching what he’s eating as well. And if he’s not eating crap food then I’m less likely to be eating crap food as well. If that support wasn’t there I think it would be harder for me to stick with it.

Although he has come an incredibly long way, Darryn still hopes to lose another three stone.

“When I get down to my ideal weight I’m going to become a Unislim leader, passing on all my knowledge and all my advice to other people to try and help them go through the same journey that I’ve gone through.”